Manilow Gives Divo the Heave-Ho

Crank up the band, it's party time at the Copacabana.

In a battle of retro pop and opera for chart supremacy (now there's a phrase we don't write often enough), Barry Manilow fended off Andrea Bocelli and knocked off Il Divo to score his first ever number one debut. Manilow, whose career spans 30 years and more than 75 million in album sales, accomplished the feat with Greatest Hits of the Fifties, which moved 156,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The purveyor of Muzak mainstays like "Copacabana" and "Mandy" previously hit number one 29 years ago with Barry Manilow Live, but that disc didn't open in the top spot. Only Elvis Presley and Ray Charles have had longer stretches between number ones, while both Santana and the Isley Brothers went 28 years between chart-toppers.

For his latest release, Manilow rendered such classics as "Beyond the Sea," "Unchained Melody" and "Young at Heart." (Like Rod Stewart, who reenergized his flagging career with his American Songbook series, the third volume of which became his first number one in 25 years in 2004, Manilow's cover album was masterminded by music legend Clive Davis.)

He's been all over the place promoting the album, including a high-profile performance on last Friday's Dancing with the Stars.

"I've had some pretty amazing experiences in my career, but this one tops them all," said Manilow in a press release. "My deepest gratitude to the brilliant Arista marketing team, my supportive fans, my own management staff and most of all to my colleague, friend and mentor, Clive Davis. I swear, if you live long enough, anything is possible!"

Tuscan-born tenor Andrea Bocelli scored the week's second-best debut--and highest position ever on the pop album charts--checking in at number three with Amore. The album, featuring duets with Christina Aguilera and Stevie Wonder, sold 113,000 copies.

R&B singer Heather Headley scored a career high with In My Mind selling 95,000 to open at number five. Her previous disc, 2003's Grammy-nominated This Is Who I Am, peaked at 38.

Rounding out the top debuts, Train stayed on track with its third straight Top 10 bow. For Me, It's You entered the station at 10, selling 62,000.

Meanwhile, last week's topper, Il Divo's Ancora, fell to number six with 93,000. Simon Cowell's pop opera quartet was one of five Top 10 debuts last week, and the only one to manage to stay among the chart elite. Josh Turner's Your Man fell nine spots to 11; Now #1s slipped six places to 12; Yellowcard's Lights and Sounds dropped 21 places to 26; and P.O.D.'s Testify nose-dived 31 slots to 40.

On a happier note, after slipping out for a week, James Blunt's Back to Bedlam reentered the Top 10 at nine with 71,000 copies, up nearly 23,000 discs. The album benefited from a repeat of the band's Saturday Night Live over the weekend.

Usual suspects made up the rest of the Top 10: Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough climbing two spots to number two, Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable slipping one position to four, and Eminem's Curtain Call and Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts flip-flopping spots at seven and eight.

Two compilations had solid, Top 20 openings: Monster Ballads: Platinum Edition landed at 18 with nearly 44,000 copies and WOW Gospel 2006 came in at 20 with 43,000. The L.A.-based duo She Wants Revenge sold over 25,000 copies of its self-titled debut at 38.

Further down the chart, the Temptations' Reflections opened at 80; Jamey Johnson's The Dollar, at 87; and Alabama's Livin' Lovin' Rockin' Rollin': the 25th Anniversary Collection, at 120.

Expect Wednesday's big Grammy winners and featured performers to get big bounces on next week's chart

1. Greatest Hits of the Fifties, Barry Manilow
2. The Breakthrough, Mary J. Blige
3. Amore, Andrea Bocelli
4. Unpredictable, Jamie Foxx
5. In My Mind, Heather Headley
6. Ancora, Il Divo
7. Curtain Call, Eminem
8. Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood
9. Back to Bedlam , James Blunt
10. For Me, It's You, Train